Riverina residents who signed up for the Miss Muddy Henty continue to be disappointed and angry following yesterday’s news about the fun run’s cancellation as the company behind the event goes into administration.
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Linden Bramich of Tumbarumba who had registered and bought merchandise said she was “absolutely shocked and angry – especially about the no refunds”.
“The merchandise that was bought [from Miss Muddy], I never received,” Ms Bramich said.
“As a working mother, I don’t particularly like to waste money.”
Ms Bramich paid about $140 for registrations and merchandise and said her five friends were also feeling the same.
“I’m also guilty because I convinced friends to join and now they’ve lost money as well,” she said.
“Everyone’s feeling the same about this.”
Ms Bramich participated in the 2016 Miss Muddy Cairns and said she “loved it”.
“Which is why I wanted to do it again, but the communication [for Henty] was non-existent,” she said.
“There’s been no warnings about the cancellations.
“I found out only because I was tagged in a [social media] post – I wasn’t contacted directly.”
I found out only because I was tagged in a [social media] post – I wasn’t contacted directly.
- Linden Bramich, Missy Muddy Henty entrant
In July 2018, charity Zaidee’s Rainbow Foundation acquired Miss Muddy and ran the event under a separate entity – Events Move Enterprises.
However, lacklustre registrations across not just Henty but Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth led to the company going into administration.
Allan Turner, founder of the foundation and managing director of Events Move Enterprises, apologised in a social media post yesterday, saying he took full blame.
Asked if she could talk directly with Mr Turner, Ms Bramich said she would ask him why he “was still running other events under the foundation”.
Narrandera resident Lee Longmire, who paid for herself and her daughter, said she and about 10 others whom she convinced to register were “incredibly disappointed”.
“I organised friends to join my team who’s now lost money, so I’m upset that I encouraged others to join” Ms Longmire said.
“I’m angry about how this has been organised – it’s all very frustrating.
“There were no warnings and only a post on Facebook on Monday about the event – then yesterday’s post [about the administration].”
“There’s a stench about it – the way they let people know about it.”
There’s a stench about it – the way they let people know about it.
- Lee Longmire, Miss Muddy Henty entrant
Ms Longmire said she bought her pre-sale tickets in March 2018, about four months prior to Events Move Enterprises acquiring Miss Muddy.
“So I’m not sure what the go is now – not sure who got my money,” she said.
“They need to give us specific details and a run down about the exact timeline of what happened.
“It seems like a complete mismanagement and poor decision making.”
Ms Longmire said she had been to about 30 similar events in the past – including triathlons and fun runs – and said this was the first time she had experienced “last-minute cancellations”.
Communication delayed to avoid more panic: director
In response, Mr Turner said they delayed communication about financial difficulties “because there would be more panic if we did”.
“I agree that it’s probably not the best way and we could’ve done better, but we weren’t in a position to do it in a way that wouldn’t cause more havoc and confusion than what it was yesterday,” he said.
“We did everything we could to make sure that the events were run successfully.”
Mr Turner said that they got “slaughtered” on social media earlier in the year when they suggested postponing the event to 2019.
“That would’ve brought us into liquidation probably two weeks earlier if we had to refund the women for that,” he said.
Asked about conducting due diligence prior to buying Miss Muddy, Mr Turner said the “viciousness of the attacks on myself and Zaidee’s Rainbow Foundation has spurred us to opening the books totally”.
We’ve never been faced with anything like this before, we’ve never done anything wrong before, we’ve never missed a beat.
- Allan Turner, managing director of Events Move Enterprises
Mr Turner declined to disclose further information, including the administrators, to Fairfax Media but said that all “will be divulged” in an upcoming interview with A Current Affairs.
“We’re going to show them exactly how the deal was done, where the money has been placed and how it ended up being the way it did,” Mr Turner said.
“It’s where we can explain ourselves in a calm and effective manner instead of through a keyboard.
“Instead of everyone jumping to conclusions, which I can hear and understand the anger, I hope this will give them a lot more transparency about our position.”
As for the online responses to the news, Mr Turner said that while he accepted the fault, the “viciousness and abuse thrown at me and my foundation has gotten out of hand”.
“I’ve had personal attacks on me that you’d never wish on your worst enemy – over a ticket to an event,” he said.
“We sincerely apologise, we made mistakes and we’ve owned up to them.
“My wife was physically and mentally disturbed last night when she read the comments [on social media] – she was in tears.
“We’ve never been faced with anything like this before, we’ve never done anything wrong before, we’ve never missed a beat.
“We upset a lot of people who lost their money – I get that, I’d be upset too…but we didn’t go in intending to screw people around.”
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